London win would have been ‘financial disaster’, says Prenty

The cost of defeat? €350k


‘Financial disaster’ is avoided by Mayo win

Daniel Carey

A LONDON victory over Mayo in the Connacht Senior Football Championship would have been “a financial disaster”, provincial GAA secretary John Prenty has admitted.
The Ballyhaunis-based official said that a shock result in Ruislip would have involved a “minimum loss” of €350,000 for Connacht Council based on gate receipts for the upcoming semi-final.
“We’d have been lucky to get 1,500 people in Pearse Stadium [for a Galway-London Connacht semi-final], whereas you’ll have at least 20,000 in McHale Park [for Mayo versus Galway],” Prenty told The Mayo News.
“You’d be talking about a €350,000 minimum loss for Connacht Council, and that’d mean a €35,000 minimum loss for McHale Park, because they get ten per cent of the gate,” the Connacht GAA Council secretary added.
“And say you had 20,000 [people there], everyone would spend an average of a tenner anyway in Castlebar. That would be a [minimum] €200,000 loss for Castlebar.”
Prenty says that he would be “expecting” a crowd of 20,000 for the meeting of Mayo and Galway in Castlebar on June 26, and “hoping for a bit more” depending on weather conditions and other factors.
Ticket prices for the game will be the same as last year – €30 for the stand, €25 for the sideline, with concessions for students, OAPs and groups.
Meanwhile, despite rumours to the contrary, the Connacht final will almost certainly not be played in McHale Park, with the provincial decider likely to end up in Hyde Park.
Roscommon will definitely have home advantage in the provincial decider should they beat Leitrim next Sunday, while Galway can decide the Connacht final venue should they end up playing Leitrim.
In the event of a Mayo-Leitrim showpiece, the venue is Leitrim’s call, and as the Connacht final has to be played in one of the west’s three big stadiums (Hyde Park, McHale Park or Pearse Stadium), it’s expected that Leitrim would opt for the Roscommon town ground.